Rebel Yell was released to commercial success. In the United States, the album peaked at number six on the
Billboard 200, and it also peaked in the top ten in other countries, including Canada, Germany, and New Zealand. The
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it
double platinum for shipments of two million copies across the United States. Four singles – "
Rebel Yell", "
Eyes Without a Face", "
Flesh for Fantasy", and "
Catch My Fall" – were released from the album. The accompanying
music videos for all singles received heavy airplay on television channel
MTV. Idol's longtime girlfriend
Perri Lister can be seen in the front row during the video for "Rebel Yell". Upon its release,
Rebel Yell received positive reviews from critics. Parke Puterbaugh of
Rolling Stone called it "a ferocious record, sharp as a saber, hard as diamond, as beautiful and seductive as the darker side of life with which it flirts", and ultimately "an intelligent assault upon the senses" at a time "when too much of what comes over the airwaves is all sweetness and light, or mere undifferentiated head-banging". In
Smash Hits, Kimberley Leston praised Idol and Stevens for "stirring together
rock,
disco and
punk elements without forgetting the importance of a good tune."
Robert Christgau, however, suggested in
The Village Voice that music videos "have been the making of this born poser's career and the unmaking of his music", quipping, "if you've got no taste for the sound of the sneer, the visuals definitely aren't fantasy enough." In the 2004
Rolling Stone Album Guide,
Rob Sheffield highlighted the wide-ranging music on
Rebel Yell, calling it "a brilliant combination of punk, disco,
synth pop,
glam rock,
metal, and
mud wrestling".
AllMusic editor
Stephen Thomas Erlewine concluded, "Each stylistic turn is distinguished by Idol's gusto. He's unafraid to be gloriously, shameless tacky, a quality that separated him from his
new wave peers then and continues to give
Rebel Yell a trashy kick years after its release." Writing for
Record Collector,
Simon Price deemed it "essentially a
dance record", crediting Forsey with taking influence from
krautrock and disco "to machine-tool Billy Idol's music into an irresistibly metronomic force".
Classic Rocks Dom Lawson lauded
Rebel Yell as "an 80s
hard rock pinnacle" which marked Idol's "transformation into the ultimate MTV-generation rock star". In 1999,
EMI Music reissued
Rebel Yell as part of their "Expanded" series. The new version of the album included previously unreleased bonus tracks and expanded liner notes. In 2010, audiophile label Audio Fidelity reissued a 24-karat CD remastered in
HDCD by
Steve Hoffman. == Track listing ==